Last weekend I had a riding lesson. It was my first lesson with him so I was quite excited about it. Andy was more than enthusiastic about the whole process. I probably should have lunged him first but I was a little curious about what sort of antics he would pull. He was fussy in the cross-ties (probably because I was rushing) and a pain to mount. He stood long enough for me to get in the saddle and then marched off. I've allowed him to do that this winter because he really fights standing still for so long. In the summer months he's much quieter and stands like an old cow. He seems to enjoy being ridden though because he's pretty eager to get going once I've tacked him up.
Anyways, I got on and we started walking around. He spent about 15 minute trying to trot and jig around the ring. I finally got him walking somewhat quietly before we started trotting. I spent another 15 minutes trying to settle him down in the trot. We went on a circle and that's when he exploded. He did his leap-in-the-air-and-buck-at-the-highest-point kind of bucks. Two of them, actually and then proceeded to buck several more times around the circle before settling into a strong canter. He got his right lead and that's all that I was excited about! :) I stayed on no problem - his bucks weren't meant to unseat me and they didn't. They were just, "I feel good and need to let this out!" kind of bucks. Andy has an innocence about him that you can feel when you're handling him and riding him. He doesn't want to hurt you he just feels good.
After he calmed down and was ready to start working Michelle was talking me through having him stretch and how much contact to have when he was offering to stretch. When I thought he was starting to root he was actually trying to stretch, which I had been trying to teach him all along! We did a lot of work at the walk and trot, allowing him to stretch and figure out where his feet should be. She pointed out (very early in the lesson) that I am allowing him to lean on my left rein and that's where a lot of my problems are coming from! As soon as I took it away he was reaching for it, trying to lean on something (because that's what he was used to) and the rein just wasn't there. By the end of the lesson he was a bit better and I was getting used to riding without the rein there. He picked-up his left lead canter quite nicely and then we worked on the right lead canter. The first time I asked he got his left lead and I brought him back, prepared better and asked again. He picked it up beautifully and we went around the ring a couple of times while I worked on having him not lean on that rein.
She had so many wonderful things to say about him and I felt so great afterward. :D It was a fantastic lesson. I'm really looking forward to our next lesson!
